


5 Times She Showed Kindness

by DWrites



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-04
Updated: 2017-06-04
Packaged: 2018-11-09 00:31:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11093157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DWrites/pseuds/DWrites
Summary: Jon's relationship with Catelyn has always been cold. On good days, she just ignores him. However, there are a few instances when she showed some kindness to him.





	5 Times She Showed Kindness

Jon was an interesting boy. He was a bastard, and he had never known his mother. Or any mother. The one mother he did encounter didn’t show him any affection. He knew why. He was a living, breathing reminder that her husband had slept with someone else. He knew she never fully forgave Ned for that, nor did she ever accept him into the family. It stung her that he looked like a Stark, like Ned, while Robb was a model Tully. Yet, even with her sullen mood, he found friends. His siblings were very close with him, although Sansa was a bit annoying and preferred to follow in her mother’s footsteps. Which is where the problem lay. Catelyn was a very cold woman towards Jon. But Jon swears that sometimes it feels like she doesn’t completely hate him. Maybe only 99.99% of the time.

***

There was one time, when he was eight. He was getting picked up from soccer practice with Robb and Theon. When the car pulled up with Catelyn in it, Jon’s heart sank. Whenever Ned picked them up, the car ride would always be filled with the radio and loud stories and laughter. Whenever Catelyn picked them up, however, it was a silent ride. Robb would talk, he always talked. To make matters worse, Robb and Theon got in the backseat, which meant that Jon had to sit in the passenger seat up front with a women who despised him. Afraid, he sat in his set as the car drove on. He didn’t say anything and nervously tapped his foot. He was looking out the window, when a truck came in front of them out of nowhere. Panicking, Catelyn slammed on the brakes and threw her arm out in motherly instinct. They stopped before they hit the truck, but she still did a check to make sure everyone was okay. Later that night, Jon couldn’t sleep. He knew that Catelyn just probably thought he was Robb in the heat of the moment and that it didn’t really mean anything. But still, he couldn’t help feeling a little bit of joy in thinking that she did care somewhat.

***

When he was a young boy, Jon got sick. Badly sick. So bad that he couldn’t move from his bed in days. And one day, Robb came trudging up to his room, carrying a bowl of soup.

“What’s that?” Jon mumbled, struggling to lift his head up.

“What’s it look like? It’s good ol’ fashion chicken noodle soup! It’ll make you feel much better!”

“Thank you, Robb. I didn’t know you could cook.” Jon tried to smile.

“I can’t. I was just told to bring it up to your room before it got cold.” Robb said, setting it down on Jon’s nightstand.

Of course, Ned couldn’t cook (although he did hunt), and Sansa was just a baby, so there was really only one possible suspect. Jon felt gratitude, even though he knew he probably shouldn’t say thank you or anything in case he got one of her cold glares again. He ate the chicken noodle soup, and began to feel much better.

***

Jon and Robb were 12 and they were playing on the playground. An older boy came up to them, with black hair and pale eyes. 

“What are you two doing on my playground?” He sneered.

“It’s as much our playground as it is yours!” Robb said valiantly.

“Really? Too bad, shrimp,” he pushed Robb to the ground. 

“Hey!” Jon cried out. “That’s not nice!”

“What are you going to do about it?” the boy laughed.

Jon glared at him and punched him in the gut. The boy tackled Jon to the ground, and they began hitting each other. The administrators quickly called the Stark residency, and Catelyn came over to the school in a matter of minutes.

“What is going on over here?!” She asked, running over to the playground. She was alarmed to see Jon and another boy bloody, while Robb stood off to the side, unharmed.

“He attacked me!” The boy said, crying.

“Liar!” Robb cried out. “You shoved me to the ground first!”

“Boys!” the principal sounded exasperated.

The father of the young boy went over to Catelyn.

“Oh well, you know how hormones are,” he said, laughing.

Catelyn surveyed the man and immediately sized him up, “Mr. --”

“Bolton.”

“Ah yes, Mr. Bolton. Well, Jon is not a particularly violent boy, and he and Robb are very protective of each other. And I’ve heard about you and your son here, Ramsay, right? All I can say is that I don’t want to see you or your son within a ten foot radius of these two boys here. Now, if you excuse me, I need to pick up my son from preschool.” Catelyn gave him a glare and turned to her car.

“Robb! Jon! We’re leaving!” The two boys looked at each other in amazement and quickly followed her to her car. Jon was happy he didn’t get in trouble, he knew Catelyn abhorred reckless fighting. But maybe she saw some good in him when he had gone to defend Robb against that Ramsay Bolton.

***

It had been a hard night for everyone. The news of Ned’s death hit at about eight at night. There had been a father-daughter dance at the middle school. Sansa, only 13, had bought a new dress. Ned wanted to take Arya along too, as Catelyn and Robb were off visiting colleges, and Theon was left babysitting Bran and Rickon. Robb was only 16, but he played a bunch of sports, and Catelyn wanted to get him in early. Bran was nine and Rickon was four, and all Theon wanted to do was go out to a bar. Jon, meanwhile, was at a friend’s house. He was chilling with Sam and Ygritte, desperate to get out of his house. Ygritte had her own apartment, and Sam and him constantly went over to it. Sam’s home situation was far worse than Jon’s, with a father who hated him. 

Ned had been enjoying his dances with Sansa and Arya. Arya never liked to dance, but she still stood on his feet and let him waltz her around at the age of ten. Sansa, meanwhile, wanted to “dance proper.” She insisted on waltzing, fox-trotting, and even the jitter-bug. It was during one of these dances that Ned doubled over, as pain racked across his chest and up his left arm. Squeezing his eyes shut he fell over onto the floor, barely hearing Sansa’s screams. A medic team was called over, as teachers quickly backed everyone away, and took hold of Sansa and Arya. They tried to revive him, however, he was pronounced dead on site.

Catelyn’s phone started ringing in the middle of the tour.

“Mom!” Robb hissed, embarrassed. 

“I have four children out and about right now, I am sorry if my maternal ways bother you, Robb.” She answered the phone. Robb stopped when he noticed her face drain of color.

“Is everything alright?” He asked. She hung up the phone with shaky hands.

“Come, we need to get back at once.” Not questioning her, Robb followed his mother back to the car as they sped on home. Well, not home, but to the middle school, which was roughly forty minutes away. By the time they got there, ambulances and police cars were on site, and activity was buzzing as parents rushed to get their children.

Robb followed his mother into the building. A policeman tried to stop her from entering the gym, but she gave him a look and told him that she was Catelyn Stark. His face fell, and he let her inside. Inside, Robb quickly spotted his two sisters. They were huddled together, with blankets wrapped around them. Robb quickly ran over to them and hugged them. He turned over to see his mother talking to a paramedic.

“We can bring him to the hospital and try to revive him again, but that’s up to you.”

“No, he would’ve wanted to go like this. Dancing with his daughter. Thank you.”

Catelyn turned to her children, “We’re going home.”

At home, Catelyn sat Bran and Rickon down and tried to explain to them what happened. A quick call from Robb sent Jon over immediately. The boys went up to their room with Theon to talk. Sansa went to take a shower, while Arya went to bed. That night, no one slept.

The viewing was on a bleak Tuesday. It was overcast and grey. The Stark children were dressed up in their finest, the boys in black suits, Sansa and Catelyn in black dresses, and Arya in a black button-down shirt and skirt. When they entered the church where the viewing was, Jon stopped. He was unsure of where to stand. Catelyn and her children would of course stand up front, next to the coffin. Theon elected to stand by the side of the room. He made a move to stand with Theon when Catelyn cleared her throat. “You’re needed up here. Someone has to push Bran in his wheelchair and make sure Rickon behaves himself.”

“Of course,” Jon nodded and quickly walked to where the other children had set themselves in the line. He placed himself in between Bran and Rickon, looking a bit out of place as he was much taller than either of them. However, it felt nice to be able to stand up there with the Stark children. He did notice Catelyn averting her eyes from him more than usually, but Robb said that was just because he looked so much like Ned.

***

It was a rare occasion in which all of the Stark children, including Jon, went on a trip together. They were headed down the beach, all seven of them piled into the Stark’s huge care. Jon and Robb sat in the back. Bran and Arya sat in the middle, with Rickon in his carseat between them, and Catelyn drove while also trying to maintain the peace. Sansa sat up front next to her mom.

A few days after they got there, it was extremely hot and the little kids were persistent for some ice cream. Tired, and desperate for something to cool everyone down, Catelyn took them all to a nearby parlor. Everyone crowded around the counter, trying to see the flavors. Jon knew that Catelyn would not want to spend money on six children, and especially not him, so he went to sit down at a table. 

After the Stark children had gotten their ice cream, they all went to sit. There wasn’t enough room, so Robb, Sansa, and Arya joined Jon at his table, and Catelyn sat nearby with Bran and Rickon. They were all carrying various assortments of ice cream, and were already beginning to lick at the melting droplets. Robb, strangely, had two sundaes in his hands. Jon was even more confused when he set one down in front of him.

“I didn’t order anything.” He mumbled.

Robb shrugged, “Yeah, Mom didn’t know what to get you so she just got you what I was having.”

Jon looked up at him, “Really?”

“What’s one more sundae, eh?” Robb grinned and turned his attention to their sisters, who were currently arguing about a blob of ice cream on Sansa’s dress and whether or not Arya was the culprit.

Jon smiled and dug into his ice cream.


End file.
